What FIT payment changes mean for your business
Find out what the change from RPI to CPI means for your payments.
You might have seen in the news that FIT payments are changing.
In this article, we explain what’s changing, and what it means for your FIT portfolio. We also explain how our proactive approach to Smart Export can help you to boost your income.
How are FIT payments changing?
From 1 April 2026, annual FIT payment increases, for both generation and export, will move from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). This will be reflected in your September quarterly payment. The government has argued this change is needed to reduce the overall cost of the FIT scheme, which is funded through levies on energy bills.
The government considered several options, including freezing payment rates altogether. That didn’t happen – which is good news – but the switch to CPI still represents a significant change.
While both CPI and RPI are index-linked, CPI rises more slowly than RPI. For businesses with multiple FIT sites, this can have a real impact: projected revenue across your portfolio may be lower than originally expected, affecting cashflow and financial planning.
How Good Energy responded to the Government consultation
Good Energy took an active role in the Government’s consultation on these changes. We shared our concerns about:
- The timing of a mid-scheme switch from RPI to CPI,
- The lack of a full impact assessment showing how existing generators would be affected
- Whether short-term savings for bill payers would outweigh reduced returns for renewable investors.
We’re committed to helping our business customers protect their FIT income -particularly through our proactive approach to Smart Export.
How Smart Export can help your business
One of the most effective ways to offset the impact of smaller FIT increases is through Smart Export.
Traditionally, FIT export payments were based on a deemed 50% export rate, regardless of actual electricity exported. Good Energy’s Smart Export programme pays for the actual electricity exported, which is often higher:
- Across business portfolios, customers export around 66% of total generation on average, higher than the 50% assumption.
- Even a small increase in export volumes can add tens of thousands of pounds per year across a portfolio.
By switching your FIT portfolio to Good Energy, we can help you unlock these additional savings and fill the revenue gap left by smaller FIT increases.
While FIT indexation is changing from RPI to CPI, your payments will still rise each year. If you want to explore ways to boost your FIT earnings, get in touch to discuss moving your portfolio to Good Energy.
FAQs
From 1 April 2026, annual Feed-In Tariff (FIT) payment increases will be linked to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
The Government has argued that RPI overestimates inflation and increases the cost of the FIT scheme. Because the scheme is funded through levies on electricity bills, they hope the switch to CPI will reduce the overall cost of the scheme, while still giving generators fair inflation protection.
Your FIT payments won’t decrease, but future annual increases are likely to be smaller, because CPI is typically lower than RPI.
The Government states this is not considered a fundamental change. Indexation remains in place, via CPI rather than RPI.
Yes. Both generation and export tariffs will be indexed by CPI.
The new CPI based indexation will apply from 1 April 2026. This will be reflected in your September quarterly payment.
The Government has moved the publication date for the new FIT tariff rates from 1 February 2026 to 1 April 2026. This delay is temporary; from 2027 onwards, the 1 February publication deadline will resume.
